deploy
/dɪˈplɔɪ
/verb [with object]
1Move (troops or equipment) into position for military action: forces were deployed at strategic locations...
- Once the strategic lift deploys Army forces to where they are required, tactical logistics moves to the forefront.
- The Legion was often deployed in hopeless military situations.
- Profiting from a mutiny, the rebel forces deployed their troops rapidly and cut the country virtually in two.
Synonyms
position, station, post, place, install, locate, situate, site, establish;
base, garrison;
distribute, arrange, range, dispose, redistribute, spread out, extend, put into position
informal plant, park
rare posit
1.1 [no object] (Of troops) move into position for military action: the air force began to deploy forward...
- When the colonial militia deployed at Concord, the uniform was work clothes.
- The armies deployed conventionally, in the centre a phalanx of pike-armed heavy infantry flanked on both sides by cavalry.
- They simply could not bring themselves to believe that they would attack, and as a result they adopted the interpretation that their army was deploying only for an exercise.
2Bring into effective action: small states can often deploy resources more freely...
- However, the trustees do have a responsibility to ensure that the centre's income is deployed in the most effective manner.
- Yet the silences, so effective when they are deployed, are largely absent.
- If she can deploy her record-breaking resources to maximum effect, this will ensure the next inspectorate report makes for happier reading.
Synonyms
use, utilize, employ, make use of, avail oneself of, turn to account, take advantage of, exploit;
bring into service, bring into play, bring into action;
have recourse to, call on, turn to, resort to
Derivatives
deployable
- In fact, for most of the Cold War, the Army's rapidly deployable capability was limited to a single contingency corps.
- To join a deployable brigade, soldiers must agree to extend their service through the end of the unit's deployability window.
- Reserve component forces are a vital part of the Army's deployable combat power.
Origin
Late 18th century: from French déployer, from Latin displicare and late Latin deplicare 'unfold or explain', from dis-, de- 'un-' + plicare 'to fold'. Compare with display.
display from Middle English:
The early meaning of this was ‘unfurl (a banner or sail), unfold’. The word comes via Old French from Latin displicare ‘scatter, disperse’, which came to mean ‘unfold’ in medieval Latin and was also the source of deploy (late 18th century). In English the notion of ‘unfurling’ led to ‘causing to notice’. Splay (Middle English) was originally a shortening of display.